


The touch of your hand (on my forehead)

by TheCarrot



Category: The Librarians (TV 2014)
Genre: Eve and Flynn look after him, Ezekiel Jones Whump, Ezekiel gets sick, Gen, Sickfic, they're good parents
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-28
Updated: 2018-06-05
Packaged: 2019-05-14 17:46:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14774264
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheCarrot/pseuds/TheCarrot
Summary: Ezekiel get's sick, and it's actually really bad.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [fangirlandtheories](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fangirlandtheories/gifts).



> Fangirlandtheories asked in one of their comments "I would love to see a sick Ezekiel fanfic where someone like Flynn or Eve have to babysit him thinking it's not so bad or that he's being overly dramatic only to discover that he's been totally downplaying how awful he feels"... Soooo, I kind of took that idea and ran with it. 
> 
> I love protective Eve and Flynn, so I hope you all enjoy.

Ezekiel doesn’t get sick often. Maybe once every couple of years if he’s been pushing himself too hard or he’s unlucky enough to actually be around a person long enough to get exposed to a bug in the first place.

So, no, he doesn’t get sick often; but when he does… 

It’s usually bad.

Like hole up in a hotel room for a week and try to sleep it off kind of bad. Just like he did once in Marrakesh; or that time he passed out with a fever of 104 in a snowbank just outside of Magadan. (That one had been a lot of a closer call than he wanted to admit, luckily he had succeeded in his mission and MI6 came and rescued his sorry ass before he died of hypothermia and a fever.)

He also vaguely recalls being sick once as a kid, back when he was living on the streets and had no one to watch his back as his malnourished body tried to fight through the sickness.

Today however, his luck seems to have run its course because when Ezekiel sits up in bed, his vision swims and his throat feels dry as the Sahara, coughs rack his frame from deep in his lungs. The thief groans, trying to figure out what woke him when a chime sounds on his bedside table. Fingers scrabble in the dark and Ezekiel holds up his phone only to frown down at the screen where a message from Flynn is flashing back at him. It’s an immediate call to the library with too many exclamation points that make his vision wobble. The screen light alone is enough to hurt both his eyes and the building headache which throbs painfully when he opens the messenger to reply.

Texting Flynn back and telling the man he’s sick, and ‘No, he’s actually sick. No Flynn, even if the world is on fire he’s not getting out of bed,’ (not that he’d be much help in that regard anyways). It takes a lot more effort to keep texting back than he wants it to and every part of Ezekiel hurts and aches to the point where he can feel the stiffness in his bones as he shivers with the cold. 

Flynn blows up his screen not taking no for an answer and finally Ezekiel just gives up, tossing his phone to the end of the bed and starts to crawl out from under the covers. He does his best to not fall over as he shrugs on clean jeans and whatever heavy sweater he can find. Normally he doesn’t mind Flynn’s stubbornness but Ezekiel’s never had it directed at him when he wasn’t feeling well and oh, how he hates the Librarian soooooo much right now…

—

The major emergency turns out to be Flynn over reacting about an old Amphora vase and Ezekiel vehemently curses the man six ways to Sunday, silently wishing for a volcano to open up in the middle of the Annex so he can shove the older librarian into it... he figures he probably shouldn’t wish too hard for that one because hey, magic...but at least with the magma he might actually be warm for once today.

Ezekiel sighs heavily and curls as much into himself as he can on his chair at one of the side desks. The thief closes his eyes against the loud noise of Flynn and Stone arguing in the middle of the room, even as the sound makes his headache worse, which he wasn’t aware was possible. The hard chair underneath him is making his all over body ache feel like he’s sitting on a bed of sharp jagged rocks in the Alps again. 

Cassandra’s voice joins in along with Stone’s and Ezekiel has to bury his face in his arms to smother the even louder level of noise that’s trying to beat an uneven rhythm inside his skull.

Cool fingers press against his burning forehead and the surprise of the touch has Ezekiel flinching back, his brown eyes shooting open only for the room to spin around him. When the dizziness settles Ezekiel looks up to see Eve staring down at him her face pulled tight in concern. He blinks up at her in confusion, asking in a hoarse voice, “Baird...what are…you doing?”

The immortal guardian gives the thief a flat look and she’s got a sarcastic retort on the tip of her tongue, but Eve pauses when she sees the genuine confusion laced with discomfort on Ezekiel’s face. The warm clammy skin under her hand makes her frown deepen. “I…. you’ve got a temperature.” 

Ezekiel watches the upset look on Eve’s face grow when he doesn’t reply and the Aussie just cocks his head to the side as if not understanding her point. Hadn’t Flynn told her… and she still hasn’t moved her hand…

“Why would you come in if you were sick?” Eve exclaims and presses her other hand against Ezekiel’s cheek when he winces at her volume. The more she looks at him she can see the way his face is flushed and how his skin is warming her fingers faster than she cares for. (Well hello worry, she thinks snarkily, its been so long)

“Flynn told me to come in anyways.” Ezekiel mutters, enjoying the cool touch on his face more than he’d care to admit. He doesn’t know why he ever thought Flynn would pass on his message though. That was dumb. 

Eves glare whips around to her boyfriend and the older Librarian flinches back at the look. 

“I-I thought he was exaggerating.” Flynn mutters, eyes wide as he slowly moves closer.

At the feel of his approach Ezekiel pulls himself away from Eves hand and straightens up in his chair, trying to make it look like he wasn’t about to fall asleep where he sat because Eves presence was stupidly comforting. 

“You’re sick?” Cassandra asks, suddenly appearing at Baird’s side, her own hand coming out to feel the thief’s forehead but Ezekiel dodges her, turning to the side to grab his phone from the table even though it hurts his eyes to look at it. His guard is down enough right now and as much as he trusts the others, old habits die hard.

“It’s not a big deal.” Ezekiel sighs brushing off their concern as he tries to hold back a cough.

“It is if you make yourself worse.” Stone huffs crossing his arms as he hovers over Ezekiel’s other side by the desk. He gives the youngest male a cursory glance and frowns at how he had failed to notice how terrible the other Librarian looked.

The thief’s starting to feel a little crowded...and oddly weirded out. Ezekiel expected for them to be like Flynn, like MI6; just roll with him being sick, and then let him leave after the emergency was done. Their concern is throwing him and it’s showing more than he’d normally let it. “It-it’s nothing.” He croaks out, eyes wide as he looks at the now thankfully quiet group of people around him.

Baird’s hand is back on his forehead before Ezekiel can catch it and the Colonel rolls her eyes. “Yeah, that’s not nothing.” She moves around the chair, looping a hand under Ezekiel’s arm and starts hauling the thief to his feet, steadying him when Ezekiel stumbles at the sudden shift. “Come on.”

“Wha- where?” Ezekiel asks, frowning as she drags him out of the Annex and down the hallway, the others leaning out of the doorway to watch them leave with worried glances.

“I’m taking you home.” Eve replies, waving to the others to stay where they are. 

“I can make it bac’ by myself Baird.” As if to instantly prove himself wrong, Ezekiel doubles over with the coughing fit he had tried to suppress for the past twenty minutes and it’s painful enough that he ends up clutching at the wall and also at Baird’s sleeve to keep himself upright. When he finally manages to stop, Ezekiel drops Eves arm like it’s on fire as he realizes what he’s holding onto. 

Oh yeah, this week is going to suck for him, he thinks.

“Yeah, no.” Eve’s worry has only grown in proportion and she shakes her head, grabbing back onto the younger man albeit a bit more careful than normally, leading him out towards her Jeep. “You’re going home and I’m not letting you behind a wheel when you’re like this.”

“You don’t lemme behin’ a wheel on norm’l d’ys.” Ezekiel snarks back, and Eve glares at him flatly as they step outside. The sunshine blinds him for a moment and Ezekiel ducks his head behind Eve for a moment until the pain passes from behind his eyes and she leads him to her Jeep.

“Look, the last place you should be is at the Library when you’re this sick okay?” The Colonel opens her passenger side door and puts her hands on her hips. “So you either deal with me taking you home or you call someone else.”

Fever bright brown eyes return her unimpressed look, “Oh please, like you don’t know I don’t hav’ anyone else.” Ezekiel huffs in annoyance but slides into the passenger seat regardless, all but collapsing in exhaustion.

Eve figured, but she never expected Ezekiel to admit it either and she feels bad for bringing it up. Except it got the Australian into her car so she just shuts the door and gets in the other side. It’s only then that she pauses with her hand hovering over the ignition. She frowns, turning to Ezekiel who is peering over at her expectantly because he knows what she’s going to ask. 

“So....where exactly do you live?” Eve questions.

Ezekiel’s small chuckle turns into a raspy cough halfway through and he has to lean against the car door to stay upright. He takes a slower breath as he points her towards the main road curling up in his seat as she drives. 

His directions lead them to the sort of outskirts of Portland where it’s larger, more expensive housing but the area is still secluded enough for privacy from nosey neighbours. Eve pulls up in front of a four story brick apartment building where there are several balconies covered with potted flowers and small hybrid cars parked in the front. It’s well maintained but small and cozy and completely not where she expected Jones to live. 

“Ya know ya don’t have to come in.” Ezekiel sighs as Baird tucks her Jeep into an empty parking space. Eve to her credit, just rolls her eyes and the two of them climb out in unison, heading towards the front door. 

Ezekiel fumbles with the number pad on the front panel for a moment before it buzzes open and the Colonel stays a step behind the younger man as they make their way towards the large stair case that runs along the left wall of the foyer.

The walk up the stairs is slower then normal and Eve keeps a hand raised, ready to catch Ezekiel if he falls, but she takes a moment to look around for the elevator, frowning when she sees the Out Of Order sign plastered on the metal doors. 

“It’s broken.” Ezekiel explains with a sigh without even turning to see whats she’s looking at, “it’s been broken for ages.”

“The landlord should really get on that.” Eve mutters reaching out to steady the thief for a moment as he sways before drawing her hand away.

“When I get time.” Ezekiel sighs tiredly as they get to the top floor. His legs feel like he’s done the entire laser field in the Galleria D’Arte di Roma a couple of times and he groans in annoyance.

The building is only four stories and each floor is immaculately kept from what Eve can see so it takes a minute for her charges words to sink in. “You?” She can feel her eye twitch, “Are you telling me you own this building?”

Bleary brown eyes look at Eve over his shoulder and Ezekiel rolls his eyes, wincing when the movement hurts his headache. “ ‘course... it was fer sale when we came bac’ from Peru.” He mutters like thats a full explanation. Ezekiel’s always had a knack for smart investments with the little bits of money he kept from his thieving. He’s donated pretty much all of it, save a small amount that he’s stored away in stocks and property that keep generating income for him to live off of. The apartment building had been so run down when he bought it that it had taken him almost a year to get it livable again.

Ezekiel brings them to a stop in front of one of two doors on the top floor and Eve watches as he takes hold of the door handle and pauses. There’s a small click and the sound of a lock disengaging before the Australian is pushing his way inside.

Baird will never admit it to his face but she’s slightly jealous. She’s ex-NAT0 and even she doesn’t have a finger print scanner on her door instead of a deadbolt... she thinks she may need to take it up with her own building owner and then see what Ezekiel will be willing to get for her because, yes, she wants that. 

The Colonel follows Ezekiel inside and can’t help the raised eyebrow at the large open space that greets her. From the door way she can see the entire living room and dining area, and the kitchen as well. Everything is new and clean, and Eve can’t help but marvel at the lack of dirty dishes and empty pizza containers she had assumed would be piled around. The rooms are neat and tidy if slightly barren, but a second look show small signs everywhere that the place is lived in. There’s a large red throw on the back of the grey couch, an entertainment system she knows Stone would die for and an assortment of teas in glass jars on the kitchen counter. The walls are mostly empty, one being exposed brick painted white and Eve almost feels like she stepped into some weird ad for a home decor magazine with how coordinated everything is. The most personal touch in the entire apartment are two solid wood book cases along the brick wall and it surprises her the most as Eve stares at the crammed full shelves; books and movie cases laying every which way.

Ezekiel moves away from her and closes his eyes as the room swims in his vision. He’s thankful that he knows his apartment inside and out in the dark so he just closes his eyes and makes a bee line for his couch. Ezekiel hopes that Baird will leave soon so he can crawl his way into bed and stay there for the rest of the week or until his cold passes, but knows he’s shit out of luck when he hears a jacket get tossed onto the chair next to the couch. 

He expects Eve to haul him back up but is surprised when she once again rests her hand against his forehead. Ezekiel cracks his eyes open to glance up at the worried expression on his Guardians face. The thief isn’t sure why Baird is still here, or why she’s being particularly touchy feely (It’s not even that he doesn’t like it, it’s just messing with his already feverish perception and he can’t seem to get his defences to work properly when she’s around.) He wishes idly that he didn’t trust Baird so much because he knows thats the reason she can touch his face when his eyes are closed and not have him rearing back. 

Blue eyes soften when Eve looks down at her youngest Liberian to see him looking back at her in confusion and she smiles back at him warmly. “Come on Jones, off to bed with you.”

“M’fine.” Ezekiel grumbles trying to curl into his couch but Eve’s firm hand stops him, turning him carefully until he’s sitting up; and if Ezekiel gives her the most petulant look she’s ever seen in response, well, Eve doesn’t say anything. She’ll save it for later when he’s better. 

“Bed.” She orders instead, helping Ezekiel to his feet. Eve can feel the tremor racking his frame as they make their way down the hallway and her frown ratchets up another notch when Ezekiel doesn’t make an easy quip about having her being in his bedroom. The thief just kicks off his shoes and goes to flop onto his bed but stops when he feels a tug on his arm. 

Ezekiel groans as his head swims in confusion, turning to see Baird holding onto him still and Ezekiel wonders vaguely why she’s even still here. “Bai’d?” He’s far too tired to be keeping up his normal blasé attitude and he knows it must be showing by the way Eve is looking at him. 

Worry scratches at the inside of her chest and Eve shakes her head, wondering if this is how her mother felt when she or her brother were sick as kids. “Change first.” She orders, “you can’t sleep in your clothes Jones…I’m going to go see if you have any medicine.”

Ezekiel frowns at her retreating back but he’s been following Baird’s orders for the past two and a half years with reasonably good outcomes and his brain must think changing into pyjama’s is one of those good orders too because Ezekiel doesn’t even question shucking his jeans for his sleep pants and the stupidly soft black t-shirt he’s had for years but doesn’t remember where he got it. It’s not until he’s already changed that he grimaces in pain, sitting on the edge of his bed that he starts wondering what he should be doing now… it was important right?

…

“Decent?” 

Brown eyes blink slowly and Ezekiel fights back a flinch at Baird’s voice. ‘What was Baird doing here…’ Wait, how long had she been gone? She was here right… she took him home… He shivers at the lapse in time and Ezekiel’s pretty sure this round of flu is going to be worse than Magadan. Crap…

Eve steps into the bedroom, taking in the flush on tan skin and the way Ezekiel’s still curled into himself and wonders just how bad the younger man feels. She’s got a few choice word for Flynn when he arrives and none of them are pleasant. “Here, they’re expired by a year but they should still help.” 

Ezekiel frowns at the two pills in his Guardian hands him and shakes his head in a way that makes the entire room spin. “S’not mine…” He hasn’t bought pain pills in years. Not since Myanmar. “-I learnt my less’n…” 

The twitch in her jaw comes back with a vengeance and the immortal fights back the urge to go back through Ezekiel’s file for some sort of explanation. She knows that kind of refusal and it burns in her gut like a bad shot of whiskey. “They’re from my bag.” Eve informs him, curling the boys fingers around the pills before passing him the glass of water she had been holding onto with her other hand. “Just… trust me ok? They’ll help.”

The Aussie doesn’t think that’s a fair thing to ask when he can’t make a decent sarcastic comeback without coughing up a lung. It’s like his body moves on autopilot however, throwing the pills back with the water and while the logical part of him is waiting for the world to turn black with the laced sedative, the other, more stupidly trusting part is telling his brain to shut up and lay down. This is Baird. She saved your sorry ass so many times when she didn’t have too, she’s not about to poison you you bloody idiot. 

Ezekiel really hates being sick. 

He passes back the glass of water before falling back onto his mattress, curling up in the numerous blankets spread out on his bed and for the first time in ages, lets himself drift off into a deep sleep with someone else in his room. He thinks he really needs to have a talk with his subconscious about how much he’s come to trust Baird….

Eve watches the young man for a moment and she lets out a heavy sigh. She defiantly feels like her mother as her hand seeks out Ezekiel’s forehead one more time. The heat worries her; worries her just as much as the way he had flinched away from Cassandra when she did the exact motion she’s doing now. Or how he moved away when Jake and Flynn had approached him in his current state. Like he had expected to be attacked when he couldn’t defend himself. 

She lets her fingers fall away, moving around the bed to pull the curtains closed along the large window to keep the brightness down before Eve steps out into the hall and digs into her pocket for her phone, texting Flynn her current location. She’s still annoyed and her hands find her hips as the door to the towel closet next to her glows for a moment, spitting out a worried and sheepish looking Flynn in the next second. 

Eve’s blue eyes are stormy and normally Flynn is all for the sexy angry eyes. Only these ones aren’t sexy, they’re annoyed and hurt and it makes his heart feel funny as he holds his hands up in mock surrender.

“I know it sounds bad but I really did think he was lying.” Flynn sighs scratching the back of his head. He’d never admit it but guilt is twirling around his stomach with how bad Ezekiel had looked back at the Library.

“Ezekiel doesn’t lie.” Eve reminds him. She’s tapping her foot now. 

“Oh please,” The librarian throws his hands up with a frumpy look. “He never tells us the actual truth.”

“Maybe, but theres never an outright lie unless it’s life or death. He’ll work around and evade stuff, just like you do,” Eve rubs at her eyes and lets out her own tired sigh. Apparently a sick Ezekiel Jones is setting all of her Guardian instincts on high alert. “Just....next time any one of them tells you that they’re sick, just let me know so I can be the judge of it. You’re-“

“Bad with people, yeah…Sorry.” Flynn ducks his head as Eve comes up to put a hand in his. He glances down the hall before back to the blonde woman. “Do you think he’ll be okay?”

“He’s got a fever.”

“How high?”

“I’d say it’s up there... theres not much in the bathroom but I’ll see if he’s got a thermometer somewhere else…” 

As Eve disappears towards the kitchen, Flynn slips quietly down the hallway to poke his head into the room he assumes to be Jones. The Aussie is on his bed, curled as tightly in his blankets as possible and Flynn feels that small well of guilt inside of him grow exponentially because Ezekiel’s breathing sounds ragged and laboured, almost like he’s trying to get air in a closed off space.

He pulls back when Eve whispers to him that she’s going to stop by her place for supply’s because Ezekiel’s place is as devoid of medication as it is personal effects. Flynn waits for her to leave before he hauls the large armchair from the living room into the boys bedroom. He doesn’t care if Ezekiel will complain about it later and as much as he doesn’t think to much of the kid, Flynn’s concern was jumpstarted by Eve’s and he can’t help but want to keep a close eye on Ezekiel now. 

Flynn settles in for the long haul as he waits for Eve to get back.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which a sick Ezekiel is a blabbermouth and Eve is slightly horrified.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> enjoy the drama and my overuse of ellipses... lol

Ezekiel sleeps the next three hours without stirring and Eve’s taken Flynn’s chair making her Librarian pull another, less comfortable, seat in from the kitchen. Flynn is sitting on the edge of the stool, book in hand as Eve texts on her phone. 

“Canceling the weekly coffee date?” Flynn chuckles glancing over at the beautiful blonde next to him.

Eve nods but doesn’t look away from her phone as Rockwell sends her an eye roll emoji and then an ‘lol’. It’s honestly freaking her out, seeing her higher ranking officer using the rolling laughing face but Eve just takes a deep breath and goes with it. She’s faced dragons, Generals using emoji’s should be easy in comparison.

Beside them on the bed Ezekiel cracks an eye open and immediately regrets it. The soft grey of his bedroom walls makes his head ache and the two voices beside him have his ears ringing. It takes a few moments to slow his breathing, getting the sudden spike in his heart rate down to a more manageable level, and then a few more minutes until finally Ezekiel can make out Baird’s and Flynns voices and the thief peers over to see the two adults staring at each other in chairs beside his bed.

…Ezekiel’s not quite sure if this is a dream or a hallucination brought on by his fever but he vows to one day understand what the bloody hell is going on here. Eve’s voice is the first one he can latch onto and Ezekiel blinks at the face she’s making. Somewhere in the fever riddled part of his brain he’s seen that expression before and if he wasn’t so tired, he’d laugh out loud. Instead he just feels hot; hot and cold and confused as his entire body aches.

“Just because I go to coffee with Rockwell every week doesn’t mean I’d ever actually considering joining DOSA…. They drove a truck into a river Flynn… two feet of water… no, please stop…”

Ezekiel furrows his brow as he looks up and over at the Guardian with a frown, “Cynnie’s evil…” he mutters, “Ten outta ten would avoid…” 

Eve’s eyes shoot up from her phone to the young man who’s looking back at her with a frown and glassy eyes. “Hey, you’re awake,” She slips off the chair to kneel next to the bed, her hand making its way to his forehead once more. “How are you feeling?” 

Brown eyes narrow as Ezekiel feels the cool touch on his skin and he lets himself sink into the feeling for a moment, “m’fine…” he sighs, beside, more importantly, “R’well threw a drink a’ me… she’s mean…don’t do it...”

Flynn snorts under his breath as Eve shakes her head, brushing a few damp strands out of Ezekiel’s eyes, “She threw a drink at you?” Eve asks in slight amusement as she pushes herself up to sit on the edge of the bed.

“You weren’t eavesdropping perchance were you?” Flynn smirks down at the younger librarian with a soft smile. 

Ezekiel chuckles for a moment, the sound lost to a ragged cough before the thief moves to haul one of his blankets up and almost completely over his head but it gets stuck where Eve’s sitting on it. “Nah, crashed Cynnie’s date once....”

Eve vows then and there to bring the subject up at her next coffee date because... what the hell?! She hopes that what Ezekiel is saying is true and not just his feverish brain spitting out words. The blonde moves carefully off the bed and back into her chair as she eyes the Aussie. “Can we get you anything? You feeling hungry, thirsty?”

The thief frowns at her in confusion and Eve will never admit that the small head tilt he does against the pillow is even the slightest bit cute. “Yes?” 

It’s not a very good answer but Flynn chuckles at it anyways, he slips off the stool and presses a quick kiss to Eve’s forehead before heading towards the hallway with a quick, “I’ll be right back.” 

Ezekiel basks in the silence of his bedroom for a moment before casting tired eyes in Baird’s direction. There’s a question burning inside of him and his over-heated brain tells his curiosity that now is the perfect time to ask stupid questions. 

“Do you lik’ us ov’r NATO?” 

Eve looks away from the door where the other tethered Librarian left and over to the surprisingly lucid fever bright eyes that are still half hidden by a pillow. “What?”

There’s a bit of fighting against his blankets and a lot of pushing down the nausea but Ezekiel manages to push himself up so he’s sitting against his headboard so he can look over at Eve without hurting his head. “NATO, ‘ou think you mad’ a good call?” The pressure in his sinus digs into his eyes. 

If Eve’s surprised by the question it’s only because she’s already been asked that question once this month by General Rockwell at those said weekly coffee dates. “So you have been eavesdropping?” She sighs with a touch of amusement.

“Mayb’” He sulks, hugging an extra pillow close to his chest.

Baird will swear up and down that the puppy dogs eyes Ezekiel gives her then are not the reason she caves and lets him off the hook so quickly. Ugh, Ezekiel being sick is hard on her nerves. “Yes.”

Brown eyes blink in confusion for a moment and then settle into surprise and Ezekiel seems to perk up a little at her answer. “R’lly?”

“Yes, I loved the work I did with my counterterrorism team,” She reaches out to pull the dark coloured duvet back up around the thief's shoulders. “But I love this too. I care about all of you more then I ever thought I could about anyone... Being a Guardian just fits for me.” She wouldn’t have agreed to become immortal otherwise.

It’s in that moment that Flynn comes back into the room, a small bowl in hand with a towel underneath it. “Hey, think your up for some soup?” He asks. 

Ezekiel blinks at Flynn in undisguised surprise, “You mad’ soup?” 

The older Librarian shrugs but nods sheepishly, “Yeah, well, no, it’s canned. But I microwaved it... so yeah... I made soup.”

Digging his arms out of the blankets Eve just fixed around him Ezekiel takes the bowl carefully. The heat on his fingers is immediate and he almost groans as it eases the ache in his hands.. “Th’nks mate.”

Flynn looks pleased with himself and Eve just pats her other half on his leg as he leans against her side, the two of them watching as the younger man takes a tentative spoonful of soup.

Ezekiel can’t help the way he smiles down at the bowl; It’s just plain canned chicken noodle soup, and he idly wonders where it came from because last he checked he didn’t stock that in his cupboards. A shiver cuts through his thoughts and Ezekiel curls up even closer around the bowl still staring down into the soup. “No ones ev’r made me soup before...”

The pleased look falls off of Flynn’s face and Eve meets his hurt look with one of her own. Eve thinks that sometimes Ezekiel says things that aren’t meant to be sad but still manage to hurt in their dismissiveness and how they remind them that despite his outwardly self sufficient exterior, Ezekiel’s been on his own a lot longer than any of them. 

He barely gets halfway through the bowl before Ezekiel feels his eyelids start to drop and his hands starts to shake. His stomach is starting to roll and Ezekiel groans as he tries to put the soup on his beside table. He's barely turned however when someone is taking the bowl from him and Ezekiel sighs in relief, falling over sideways and curling up into a small ball under his blankets. There’s a moment of quiet movement and the thief fully expects to hear Flynn and Eve leaving... only they don’t. 

Not really. 

Flynn’s footsteps go down the hallway and then come back and Ezekiel manages to pry his eyes open once more. “You g’ys know ya don’t hav’ ta stay here,” he whispers.

Flynn and Eve exchange matching frowns with each other before in unison they turn to Ezekiel. “We know.” Flynn replies softly as he looks over the younger mans curled up form, the way he’s huddled under the blankets. It’s so unlike the Ezekiel they’re used to and frankly Flynn isn’t sure he’s ever going to be able to un-see this version of the boy.

Eve feels her heart twist at the flush staining Ezekiel’s cheeks and she knows it’s not just the fever colouring them. He’s embarrassed. She’s sliding out of her chair and perching on the side of his bed once more before she can stop herself and the Colonel let’s her hand fall back to his forehead. It’s not even to check his temperature this time, even if it is still worryingly high. Ezekiel flinches a little bit but doesn’t brush her hand away like he does with the others. The contact still seems to startle him but Eve just smiles at the thief. “We’re here because we want to be Ezekiel,”

He looks so young in his confusion, brows furrowed like he doesn’t understand the words Eve is speaking. Like no one’s offered to stay with him when he was sick before. To stay with him and look after him and... not to hurt him.

“Go to sleep Jones,” Baird whispered quietly, fingers running through the soft black hair under her hand. She can see the way his eyes flutter in exhaustion and Eve makes a mental note to make sure the thief gets more sleep in the future. “We’ll be here when you wake up.”

The Aussie sinks into his mattress and lets the strange heat settling into his brain take over.

\--

One downside to being immortal, Eve thinks, is that when you can’t be distracted by the need for sleep or food, watching a sick person sleep is completely nerve wracking. She’s not the least bit tired but the raspy sounds coming from their youngest Librarian have only gotten worse and the fine sheet of sweat breaking out on his forehead is starting to run down onto his pillow. 

Baird bites her lip, dabbing the wet wash cloth Flynn had fetched for her moments ago along Ezekiel’s brow. 

“Should we call a doctor?” Flynn whispers loudly peering over Eve’s shoulder, his face tight with worry. “Or Jenkins? We should defiantly call Jenkins!”

Pressing the cold compress one last time against Ezekiel’s cheek, Eve folds it carefully, letting it rest on his forehead. “Not yet,” she replies softly. She’s more than well aware of Ezekiel’s distaste for medical professionals. (She still stands by her logic of hauling his ass to the hospital after that mission with the harpies that had almost torn his arm to shreds.) “We’ll give him a few more hours, if he gets worse then we’ll talk about an actual doctor.”

Flynn pouts but nods. 

“Although, there is something you can go get for me.” Eve adds suddenly looking over to the man hovering over her shoulder.

Brown eyes blink for a moment but Flynn nods, “What do you need?”

\--

“W’az on m’head...” Ezekiel manages to ask even as his hands flail out of his blankets to fumble at the weird sticky feeling on his forehead.

“Ah-ah.” Eve, who hadn’t moved from her spot on the edge of the bed, catches his hands and lowers them back down to the bed. “It’s nothing, just something letting us keep an eye on your temperature.” The Colonel explains. 

Hazy brown eyes narrow and before Eve can stop him again, Ezekeil reaches back up and peels the odd shaped thing off of his forehead. “Izzat a la’y-bug?” He knows he’s sick... he just didn’t know he had gotten to the hallucination part of his fever yet. 

Eve sighs and takes the Fever-Bug out of the thief’s hands and presses it back to her charges head. “Yes it is- and you’re going to leave it there-” She orders as the boys hands start to sneak back up to his head. “I had Flynn go get them.”

As if summoned by his name Flynn shoots awake where he was curled up asleep in Eve’s chair next to the bed. “I’m awake! I’m sorry Victor! Please don’t go into the room!”

Eve sighs tiredly at her husband next to her, even as Ezekiel gives Flynn the best incredulous expression the Guardian has ever seen. 

”Vic’tor?” Ezekiel asks with a rough cough, he can feel the sticker on his forehead pull as he frowns. 

Eve holds up the book she had set on the side table, “I was reading to you two when he fell asleep, the main character is a Victor.” Leave it to Flynn to fall asleep in the middle of a chapter, she thinks, even as an immortal that doesn’t actually need sleep.

Flynn gives Eve a sheepish look and takes the book from her to show Ezekiel. “It’s actually pretty good.”

“I don’t like Vic’tors.” The thief grumbles looking put out. It’s an expression that doesn’t help how childish he already looks with his feverish cheeks and a lady bug on his forehead telling them that he’s got a temperature of 39 degrees. 

“When was the last time you even met a Victor Ezekiel?” Muses Eve as she gives Ezekiel a flat look, taking the wet cloth to his temple. She’s not expecting a shadow to cross over her charges face as the feverish Aussie chuckles lowly and it’s enough for Eve to draw her hand away.

“Ban Houayxai.” 

The book in Flynn’s hands falls to the floor with a clatter as the older man stares at Ezekiel in muted horror, “…right near the Chinese boarder?” He looks to Eves in shock and her face is as cold and disturbed as Flynn has ever seen it. The Librarian thinks his probably isn't much better. Even he's avoided the area for years...

“That’s not a good place Ezekiel...” Baird’s voice is barely a whisper.

“He w’s a stabby bl’ke’” Ezekiel snorts under his breath which leads to a sudden violent cough that racks his frame so he misses the way Eve’s face pales, even as he pulls his extra pillow closer to him. He can’t help but chuckle to himself as he remembers how the serrated blade had dug in deep and ended up taking weeks to heal. He hates Victors... and Sean’s... “Sean’s are the burny blockheads...” He snickers.

The Guardian lifts a knee up onto the bed, shifting into a more comfortable position on her now normal spot so she can face Ezekiel directly; Eve even reaches out to push the pillow down to catch his glassy eyes with hers. “Hey... Ezekiel, eyes forward okay, I want you to look at me.” 

The thief frowns but goes to look at her only to be distracted when Flynn crouches down by the side of the bed as well so he’s next to Eve’s knee. Ezekiel makes a questioning noise at him, reaching out to poke the silly looking face close to him only the woman sitting on his bed grabs his hand once more and drags his gaze back to hers.

Ezekiel vaguely wonders why she’s looking so concerned but his head is swarming with the want for sleep and the same dull throb that’s been so prevalent for however long he’s been stuck in bed this time.

“Ezekiel, I want you to tell me about Ban Houayxai.” Eve whispers quietly. This wasn’t in any of his files…

“Wha’for?” The thief is pretty sure he’s got a funny sarcastic retort for her question somewhere, but then the strange feeling of a hand settling on his shoulder makes him pause and look around. He’s sick... someone got close to him- he should run- he needs to run...

Flynn almost takes his hand away with the panic filled look Ezekiel sends him, but stops himself. “Jones, can you just answer Eve please.”

Eve’s nerves are twitching as fever bright brown eyes ghost over her only to fall on the wall behind her head when Ezekiel tries to curl back away from them. 

“‘on’twantto...” The younger man grumbles petulantly, “Bai’d’ll b’mad.”

“Please, just tell us?” Eve pleads, unsure if she should press the issue but thinks if she can find out more about their thief then she’ll push just a little bit more than normal.  
“Why you wanna know ‘bout Ban Hou’xai?” Ezekiel frowns closing his eyes, making as if to go back to sleep. “Chuen’eng was waaayyy wors’ mate.” He chuckles suddenly like its the funniest thing he’s heard all week.

Eve’s sure her entire face is twitching by this point. 

“Buutt Shhhhh..” Ezekiel giggles pulling his blanket up to his chin with his eyes still closed. “You can’t tel’ B’rid bout that thou-... she gets all frowny and Cassie makes Mu’ther B’rid jokes...” 

Flynn purses his lips together to keep from snickering at Eve’s offended face. “Well, if you tell us, we promise not to tell Baird.” 

The sick Librarian purses his lips and seems to think about it. Ezekiel knows theres something wrong with that statement but his brain is too busy swimming around and around inside his own head so he just shrugs, coughs and nods. 

HIs voice is rough as he speaks and Ezekiel knows somewhere deep down that he shouldn’t be finding any of this funny, knows that he shouldn’t actually be talking, but these people have promised not to tell Baird, and they’ve stayed with him, and made him soup...

Ban Houyxai turns out to be Ezekiel at age eighteen, following after a Retrieval Specialist who had stolen a ruby from him, only for both of them to be captured by said stabby Victor. Eve can feel the tension in her jaw start to give her a headache when her youngest librarian continues. He laughs when he tells them about how he escaped three days later but left the other guy there to get out on his own. Ezekiel can’t help the way he shudders then. “Still not as bad as Chuen’eng...”

Flynn frowns, not sure if he wants to hear anymore of this. What had they been thinking asking Ezekiel about these things.

“S’where I thought Lam was tak’n Bra’d on the train...” The thief confesses and there’s a hint of horror in his feverish eyes at the thought. Eve is right there with him and she closes her hand around one of his. The gesture seems to startle the thief but Ezekiel doesn’t pull his hand away. “P’ple would pay lotsa money for som’one like her...”

“You shouldn’t have come after me then.” The colonel mutters, remembering how surprised she had been to see Jones rushing towards her after her meeting with Rockwell. She had been so thrown then, so horrified by her old friend that she barely registered Ezekiel leading them to safety where Cassandra had been waiting near the back of the train.  
Ezekiel laughs at her frown and mentally curses himself because he knows his fever is making him stupid and loopy and talkative. “S’not that bad’a place for me.” He pokes at the back of Eve’s hand and gets distracted when his vision shutters. “Liars, crooks, an kill’rs... ‘m good there... ‘fit in.”

Baird tightens her grip, anger rising in her chest but before she can stop Ezekiel, before she can cut off his terrible words, he seems to focus on her with such an intensity; like he’s suddenly just remembered who she is. 

“Don’t look like th’t...” Ezekiel mutters quietly because if he’s seen that look on Eve’s face once, he’s seen it a hundred times. Over and over and over and over...pity and heartbreak that curl up like acid inside him. When the thief continues speaking his voice is so low Eve can barely make out what he’s saying, but what she does hear has her anger catching in her throat. “Th’se places are ‘xactly where ‘m’gonna end up... but you know’ wha... ‘s Library’s such a nice place fer now... Nothin’ good like that eva’ lasts.” 

Flynn pushes himself to his feet then, shaking his head as his eyes flash with that well known passion of his for proving people wrong. He puts his hand over where Eve’s still gripping onto Ezekiel’s and says with as much vehemence as he can muster. “You’re wrong.”

Ezekiel stares up at the older Librarian for a moment; he’s so used to those words but for some strange reason they sound different this time... the thief wants to bite back but he can feel his eye lids starting to slip closed so Ezekiel just lets them fall, flipping over onto his side as he mutters out, “Sure thin’ mate...sure thi’g....”. 

Eve isn't sure if Ezekiel is fully aware of the way he curls into her knee or if it’s just a subconscious thing but after the way her nerves have just been raked over the coals, she’ll take any small measure to make sure she knows her charge is okay. She doesn’t care about the way her leg is starting to fall asleep, she barely even notices as Flynn manages to shimmy his way around the bed to sit on Ezekiel’s other side. 

Together they bracket him, hands joined across the sleeping Aussie, and Eve closes her eyes and wishes to every artefact they have that tomorrow morning Ezekiel wakes up healthy.

\--


End file.
